[desktop] help needed to get started

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Hi Karuna, and welcome to the team and the ubuntu-doc mailing list!

On 2023-02-27 16:08, Karuna Tata wrote:
> Hello, I read the documentation team page as well as this one:
> https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/contribute/26. So, based on this, I'd
> like to write about a new topic or improve the wiki for desktop; I'm
> currently researching topics.

In response to a similar question about a year ago I posted this message:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-doc/2022-March/020808.html

It's an overview of different kinds of Ubuntu related documentation. So 
as a first step you should consider which kind of documentation you 
would like to start with.

You mentioned "the wiki", and it's worth mentioning that there are two 
wikis:

* https://wiki.ubuntu.com/

* https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CommunityHelpWiki

I'm assuming you meant the latter.

But in any case, to be able to edit wiki contents you need to be a 
member of the ~ubuntu-wiki-editors Launchpad team. To apply for 
membership, please visit <https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-wiki-editors>.

> I also tried different languages on Ubuntu and discovered that a few
> translations are still in progress; I'm looking into it and would
> like to contribute as well,

While translations is beyond the scope of what we usually mean with 
documentation, it's an area where contributions are obviously welcome 
and valuable. Translators are organized per language, so you need to 
pick a language to start with. Then — hopefully — there is an Ubuntu 
translators team for that language, and if so you should seek contact 
with that team for further guidance.

> but for now, I set up desktop documentation using this guide.
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam/SystemDocumentation/UbuntuDesktopGuide.

Hmm.. Unfortunately that page is a bit outdated. Today we use git rather 
than bzr. But other projects still use bzr, so setting up it may prove 
to not be wasted time. :/ Anyway, if you decide that you want to help 
with the official desktop guide, I will provide a more up-to-date 
guidance on how to get started.

> It's a little overwhelming;

I understand that feeling.

> do you have any issues that I could choose and contribute to?

There are indeed bugs.. But first and foremost: To start contributing to 
Ubuntu you should pick an area based on your interest, experience and 
technical skill. You need to have a personal drive to improve things, 
rather than waiting for someone telling you exactly what to do.

For instance: Pick a set of documentation, read it, find that some 
aspects are missing or the existing docs need to be improved. Then just 
do it. You may need to ask for help, of course, but you need to take 
ownership of the specific thing you decided to improve.

> Could you please advise me on the next steps?

Hopefully I just did. Looking forward to your response.

-- 
Rgds,

Gunnar Hjalmarsson
https://launchpad.net/~gunnarhj